Crossing the Middle East

I’ve been spending my days at the internet cafe here in Chaing Mai, researching the next leg of my trip. Without a doubt it’s going to be the most difficult. Myanmar only just opened its border to India last year. The first traveler to cross the country overland (since they’ve reopened) was this guy Catdust who explained how he did it on a lonely planet forum. In the months since it seems that there’s been a handful of hitchhikers and long distance bikers who have done it.

Then there’s Pakistan and Iran. Canada really doesn’t like Iran. The Canadian travel advisory site says in bold red letters: Iran – AVOID ALL TRAVEL. I’ve read that the Iranian government is now requiring Canadian visitors to hire a government approved guide for the duration of their visit. To make things a little more interesting, I’m starting to become more conscious of the fact that I have no source of income. Frugal as I am, there’s always hidden costs lurking around the corner. For example, a $40 visa won’t get me across Myanmar – there’s another $50 permit needed to get into the restricted area near the Indian border. It might not seem like much, but when you’re crossing a dozen countries it adds up pretty fast. And who knows how much Iran is going to cost. Permits and consular fees are the one inescapable expense, everything else is optional.

But there’s a pretty big part of me that’s looking forward to when I run out of money. That’s when my beliefs are going to crash up against the hard shores of reality and who knows what’s going to happen. Only lets hope I can make it to the EU and jump through the last bureaucratic hoop of my trip before I do.

Anyway, I stumbled across this video while I was doing all this research and thought I’d share it. It’s pretty inspiring to see that there’s other people out there doing these things.

Now I’m off to meet Lisa and Richard – some German hitchiking dumpster divers who’ve offered to host me in Chaing Mai while I wait for my pal Eero to get here. I’m pretty grateful that they’re rescuing me from this.